Dress Codes: Why do tennis players wear white?

(CNN) — Pristine, crisp and all-white — tennis whites have been a tradition dating back centuries. The distinctive look has not only made the racquet sport stand out, it has also become a sartorial mainstay off the courts, too.

And even though most of the major tournaments have done away with the hueless uniformity, Wimbledon, the very first of them, has remained strict in its policy (as have many private clubs around the world). The prestigious championship even clamped down on the rule a decade ago, prohibiting colorful accents that had become increasingly common —  the year after Roger Federer’s now-infamous pair of orange-soled sneakers were banned after his first round in 2013.

The rules once called for “predominantly white” outfits, allowing some competitors to play with color combinations, such as Serena Williams’ tribute to Wimbledon treat strawberries and cream in 2010. But the crackdown changed the wording to “almost entirely white,” per the organizers: no off-white, no panels of color, no varying colorways on sneakers. The only recent loosening of rules was in 2023, to allow women to wear dark-colored shorts on the court following criticisms that the rules weren’t accommodating for menstruation leaks.

But why did tennis whites become the standard? The reasons often cited are practical ones, from heat reflection to sweat-masking. But senior curator Kevin Jones of the ASU Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (ASU FIDM) Museum in Los Angeles, who organized the recent traveling exhibition “Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800 – 1960,” said it really comes down to a long history of clubs enforcing social status, starting when lawn tennis skyrocketed in popularity in Victorian-era England as a leisure sport — and a rare one that allowed women, too.

“It’s completely elitist because white clothes are difficult to maintain,” he said in a phone call with CNN. “And the types of materials that these dresses were made of, which were cottons and linens, creased easily, so to keep them nice and freshly starched was also an aspect of that care.”

Challenging the rules

Of course, tennis style has drastically changed in a century-and-a-half since it first became a recreational sensation for the upper class, hot off the heels of croquet (and utilizing the same neatly trimmed lawns). Early tennis attire was more akin to 19th-century leisurewear: women wore striped and patterned garments with long skirts, corseting and wide-brimmed hats; men donned wool pants, button-downs or sweaters.

Because spectators and players have often adhered to similar styles, fashion and tennis have had a “mutual exchange over time, where various tennis trends have seeped into wider culture as well,” said sports journalist Ben Rothenberg, author of “Tennis: The Stylish Life” as well as a recent biography on Naomi Osaka.

That’s been more than apparent in the past few months as Zendaya turned out a series of tennis-inspired high-fashion red-carpet looks matching the on- and off-court drama of the film “Challengers,” and recently faced Federer in an “air tennis” match for a campaign by the sportswear brand On. The close alignment with fashion has also led to the success of classic tennis-born labels such as Lacoste and Fred Perry, as well as radical new fashion innovations introduced on the court, like Elsa Schiaparelli dressing Spanish player Lilí de Álvarez in culottes, a split skirt, for Wimbledon in 1931, to onlookers’ shock.

Like with De Álvarez, dress codes in tennis have often changed after an initial scandal. The French player Suzanne Lenglen was one of the earliest and most memorable cases, when she did away with layered, long dresses and wore a more airy calf-length skirt and shorter sleeves at Wimbledon in 1919. A muse to the designer Jean Patou, Lenglen became tennis’ first fashion icon with her signature headscarf and then-provocative shorter hems.

At the US, French and Australian Open, players have challenged definitions of what tennis clothes can be thanks to looser rules (subject to referee opinion). None have done so more than the Williams sisters, with Serena wearing a denim mini, tutus and cape-like silhouettes and Venus’s lacy black-and-red ensemble that drew comparisons to lingerie.

More recently, Serena Williams’ Nike kit became the topic of conversation at the 2018 French Open when she opted for a black compression catsuit that didn’t feature the compulsory tennis skirt. Though she cited its circulation benefits following a severe blood-clot scare with the birth of her child, the French Open said it would bar the style in the future. However, the Women’s Tennis Association formally allowed it, and Williams continued to wear versions of the bodysuit at the 2019 and 2021 Australian Opens, normalizing the agile and simplified cut for the tennis court.

“I love wearing skirts,” she told CNN in April while reflecting on the controversy. “But I wanted to make sure that my blood was always circulating and I had been in a near-death experience.”

“So I think there should have been… understanding around that whole outfit,” she added.

Brand distinctions

Most of the Grand Slam tournaments dropped the all-white rules decades ago, likely in a bid to attract more television viewers and advertisers in an age of increased visibility for the sport.

“Color is vital to draw the eye and especially for those sports companies to be able to advertise their logos and their colors,” Jones explained.

Sports and luxury brands advertise through fashion in multiple ways, from dressing star players in custom statement pieces to promoting merchandised designs on competitors.

Wimbledon’s restrictive rules have been “frustrating” for brands trying to sell their tournament collections, Rothenberg said. When Fila introduced Bjorn Borg throwback shirts in 2001, replicating what the tennis star wore during his five-time-winning Wimbledon streak from 1976 to 1980, Wimbledon officials said they no longer adhered to the rules. The decision sent the sports brand “scrambling” to get new shirts to the players wearing them, Rothenberg explained. And, after Federer’s orange-soled shoes were banned, Nike had to act fast to spin their brief appearance, advertising them as “One Match Wonders” in a print ad.

For players, the smallest infractions have proved controversial, and some players have outright refused to play along, as Andre Agassi did from 1988-90 when he boycotted Wimbledon entirely. In 2017, Jurij Rodionov was told to change blue underwear that was peeking out of his shirts, while Sabine Lisicki recently said that she and women were often required to switch out their skin-colored bras.

But Rothenberg doesn’t see more leniency happening anytime soon from Wimbledon’s decision-makers.

“I think Wimbledon sees its anachronisms as a big part of its brand and its value,” he explained. “Wimbledon has clung on to it as a way to be distinct and different — and I think it’s largely been successful. It doesn’t look like any other tournament.”

There have been criticisms levied against the major tournaments whenever women players seem to be disproportionately affected by their dress codes, and though Rothenberg agrees, he also points out that women’s styles have been more creative. Men’s tenniswear has deviated less from shorts and lightwear polos or shortsleeve athletic shirts since they were introduced.

“There’s been a lot of men’s short length getting markedly shorter over the last 12 months though, especially players who really have hiked up their shorts a lot,” he said with a laugh.

“Maybe someday there will be rules against that if they start showing too much cheek.”

Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled a source’s surname and misstated the current name of the ASU FIDM Museum.

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